Ashes 2019: Joy of six for Lyon as Australia hammer England to seize initiative

Australia completed a resounding 251-run victory on day five to seal the opening Ashes Test as Nathan Lyon tormented sorry England with a sublime six-for at Edgbaston.

The heroics of centurions Steve Smith and Matthew Wade a day previous set England a near-impossible 398 target and their only realistic chance of avoiding defeat was to bat out the day for a draw.

But predictions that a wearing day-five pitch would be suited to the spinning skills of Lyon bore fruit and he finished with 6-49, becoming the fourth Australian to rack up 350 Test wickets in the process.

Pat Cummins added 4-32 and now has 100 Test wickets as England played like the proverbial deer in the headlights to fall behind in the five-match series.

The inquest will now begin for England, who had Australia at 122-8 in the first innings before the first of Smith's centuries brought the tourists back into the match.

Even still, England held a 90-run lead heading into the second innings but their inability to remove Smith proved costly in an enthralling contest and the Australians now have the psychological edge with their star batsman in phenomenal form.

Tim Paine's side head to Lord's with a 1-0 lead having ended an 18-year wait for an Edgbaston win in any format, while it marks just England's second defeat in 15 Test matches at the venue.

England would have been relatively content with the opening hour despite the loss of first-innings centurion Rory Burns (11) when a short one from Cummins was gloved to Lyon at gully.

Jason Roy (28) and Joe Root made 41 for the second wicket, only for the former to make a complete hash of attacking a Lyon delivery that turned through the gap.

Lyon quickly added Joe Denly (11), who wastefully reviewed when there was clearly a nick on a looped one to Cameron Bancroft at short leg, and the same combination snared the crucial wicket of Root – who England really needed to bat most of the day – with the fielder snaffling a sharp take.

It left England 85-4 by lunch and the situation did not improve in the afternoon session, Cummins ripping up Jos Buttler's off stump before Jonny Bairstow gloved the same man to the slips.

When Ben Stokes edged Lyon behind to gleeful Australia captain Paine the writing was on the wall.

Chris Woakes tried to delay the inevitable with an enterprising 37, but the out-of-sorts Moeen Ali and Stuart Broad had no answer to Lyon and Cummins accounted for Woakes with a short delivery to bring an end to proceedings.

LYON ROARS INTO ELITE AUSSIE CLUB

Lyon joined an elite club when it comes to Test scalps for Australia - only Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Dennis Lillee have also made it to 350.

All the focus pre-match was on the tourists' pace attack and which options they may use to try and cut down England. While the trio selected played their part throughout the Test, it was instead the one frontline spin bowler who was left to take centre stage on a worn surface.

STICK OR TWIST? NEITHER HELP OUT ENGLAND

The home side must be wondering where it all went wrong, having reduced Australia to 122-8 on the opening day. Coming to the ground on Monday, they always faced a tough order to survive and keep the series level heading to Lord's.

Their top-order batsmen attempted different methods to cope with Lyon, though none worked for a sustained period. Roy's adventurous march down the pitch will draw criticism, but even the reliable Root succumbed when choosing the more defensive approach. With issues over the form and fitness of key players, England's selectors have plenty to ponder in the break between games.

MOMENT OF THE DAY

The longevity of Root's innings was always likely to be crucial to England's chances of survival. But the skipper was sent on his way after a fine pouch by Bancroft shortly before lunch. Had Root managed to hold on England may have still maintained some hope of a draw, but Australia's celebrations told a story in itself.

KEY OPTA FACTS:

- Lyon has become only the seventh spinner ever to record 350 Test wickets. - Cummins has now taken 100 Test wickets (21 matches); no Australian bowler has got there faster since 1937 (Bill O'Reilly - 20). - No bowler has dismissed Root more often in Tests than Lyon (five). - Denly has scored more than 23 just once in eight Test innings for England. - Buttler has failed to score more than five runs in four of his eight Test innings in 2019.

Related items

Australia have been set 399 runs to win the Ashes series 3-1 after England were bowled out early on day four of the final Test at The Oval.

England were dismissed for 329 in their second innings after resuming on 313-8 on a glorious Sunday in London, Jofra Archer falling for only three before Jack Leach (nine) was dismissed by Nathan Lyon (4-69).

Australia successfully reviewed after Archer was given not out by umpire Marais Erasmus when he gloved Pat Cummins (2-67) behind in the second over of the day.

Stuart Broad smashed Cummins for two sixes in an over but was left stranded on 12 when Leach was taken by Josh Hazlewood attempting to hit Lyon for a boundary.

Australia face a huge run chase under blue skies as they eye a first Ashes win in England since 2001, with Joe Root's side strong favourites to salvage a 2-2 draw a week after a defeat at Old Trafford gave them no chance of regaining the urn.

Guyana Amazon Warriors continued to match Trinbago Knight Riders win for win at the top of the 2019 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) table after subjecting St Kitts & Nevis Patriots to a trial by spin at Warner Park.

The Warriors and Knight Riders have both now won four from four after this all-too-easy seven-wicket victory for the Guyanese side.

Imran Tahir (2/17) and Qais Ahmad (3/28) led a four-man spin attack for the Warriors that reduced the Patriots to 53/5 and, although Shamarh Brooks engineered a recovery of sorts with a well-made 34 from 25, the innings fell away after he departed, seam finally making an impression as Keemo Paul took the last two wickets in the space of three balls. A final total of 121 was never going to be enough and was immediately put firmly in perspective by a 24-ball 49 from Brandon King at the top of the Warriors chase.

He smashed three fours and a huge Hero Maximum over midwicket from Sheldon Cottrell’s second over to make it clear the Warriors were not about to linger over chasing down their target.

And when the Patriots tried some spin it didn’t work quite as well as it had for the visitors, with Fabian Allen’s first over taken for 16 – including two more big sixes for King.

He was run out one short of a half-century from the final ball of the Power Play, but it mattered little. By then the Warriors were already 64/1 and over halfway to their target.

Shimron Hetmyer toe-ended Mohammad Hafeez to long-off for just a single looking to keep the attack going, prompting Chandrapaul Hemraj and Warriors skipper Shoaib Malik to throttle back and make sure nothing went wrong.

Hemraj edged behind off Rayad Emrit for a watchful 22, leaving Nicholas Pooran (19*) to apply the finishing touches alongside Malik (24*) as the Warriors got home with 25 balls to spare.

The start of the game was delayed by a brief shower and when play did begin the Warriors had got through four overs and three different spinners before a seamer was seen.

The tactic paid off, with Devon Thomas bowled by Chris Green’s first ball and just 19 runs on the board after the first four overs from Hemraj, Green and Tahir.

And even when the quicker bowlers did come on, it was still the spinners making the difference. Evans had stroked four fours in reaching 26 and was looking dangerous when he was superbly run out by a direct hit from Tahir at short fine-leg.

With the seam bowling of Romario Shepherd and Paul proving relatively expensive, Malik turned to the fourth spinner in his ranks with instant reward as Qais Ahmad had Hafeez caught for 14 by Hetmyer at long-off in his first over. Tahir then trapped Jason Mohammed plumb lbw for just 4 to reduce the Patriots to 51/4 in the 9th over.

The Patriots took the bold decision to promote left-hander Dominic Drakes to number six in a bid to counter the leg-spin threat on the back of his record-breaking 34 not out – the highest ever T20 score by a number 11 – against Barbados Tridents last time out.

It didn’t work. He was dropped by Hetmyer on nought but caught by Ahmed two balls later to give Tahir a second wicket off an eventful over and sum up a night to forget for the Patriots.

Tim Paine joked he will enrol on an umpiring course after conceding Australia are having "a mare" with their reviews during the Ashes.

Australia finished day three of the fifth and final Test trailing England by 382 runs. The tourists need to avoid defeat to win the series outright having already retained the urn but endured a challenging day in the field as England closed on 318-8.

Joe Denly was the star for England with 94, though Australia could have dismissed him for considerably fewer runs had they reviewed after Mitchell Marsh struck the opener on the pads.

Denly was given not out on the field but Hawk-Eye showed the ball would have gone on to hit the stumps, as it would later in the innings when Australia again chose not to review after Nathan Lyon hit Jos Buttler, who made a fluent 46, in front.

Asked in a media conference what he can do to improve his judgment, the Australia skipper responded sarcastically: "I'm going to do some umpire school when I get home, I'll enrol in a level three umpiring course and see if I can get them right.

"I'm getting it wrong, I don't know what else to say, we're having a mare. We've got it wrong, we're not deliberately getting together and saying, 'Gee I reckon that's out Gaz, you want to refer it? Nah let's let him keep batting.'

"We're getting it wrong, it happens, it's fast, it's a tough job. As I've said throughout the whole Test series, I've got a new respect for umpiring, particularly in Test cricket because it's a bloody hard job.

"For years players have whinged about umpiring and now we've got it in our hands a little bit and we're finding that it's hard."

Australia appeared tired and frustrated as their long and chastening day in the field dragged on, though Paine had no issues with his side's application on Saturday.

"The last hour of today, our energy is still really good in the field, our bowlers have run in every single day we've asked them to, they've done a fantastic job," added Paine.

"The only thing that's been a little bit disappointing in this Test match is our catching and our referrals."